The Algerian police have reportedly arrested former president Abdelaziz Bouteflika’s youngest brother, Said Bouteflika, and two former intelligence chiefs, Generals Bachir Athmane Tartag and Mohamed Mediene, while under investigation for plotting against the state, security sources said on Saturday, reported Africa News.
According to a statement released by the tribunal, the prosecutor appointed a judge to investigate Said Bouteflika and generals Mohamed Mediene, known as Toufik, and Athmane Tartag for “plotting against the authority of the state” and “attacking the authority of the army.”
Notably, all the three in question were key figures during the era of Bouteflika, who resigned early last month under pressure from the army and weeks of street protests after two decades in power. The state television aired a dramatic video that showed the three climbing the steps to the military tribunal.
Said Bouteflika, 61, who served as a top advisor to the presidency for more than a decade, has been accused of using presidential powers for his own benefit after his brother became wheelchair-bound after suffering a stroke back in 2013.
Mediene was in charge of military intelligence service DRS for the last 25 years and one of Algeria’s most powerful men until he was forced to resign in 2015. Tartag was the head of the DSS state security service until last month when he stepped down from his post soon after Bouteflika resigned.
“The arrest of Said is definitely the peak in the dismantling of Bouteflika’s system,” a top political source told Reuters on Saturday.
The people of Algeria are still going strong with their protests and demand calling for the resignation of interim president Abdelkader Bensalah, who is due to serve until an election on July 4, and Prime Minister Noureddine Bedoui. Hundreds of thousands of protesters rallied peacefully in Algiers, chanting “we will not shut up!.”
